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Slightly different rat issue

Slow-wormSlow-worm Posts: 1,630
edited June 2022 in Problem solving
I saw a rat in my garden the other day, it ran under the half built wooden steps, but looked a bit lost when it saw me, and I didn't see where it went. I couldn't find any holes or tracks, just a frog wondering what the sudden beam of light was.
I took all the bird feeders in every night, bit I saw another rat today at the end of the garden. It didn't see me until I was quite close, and I'm pretty sure it went under the fence - but the people there have a Jack Russel. They also have a large shed/kids playhouse about 6ft away from the fence, and have recently dug foundations for an extension, so the garden is messy, quiet, and has lots of places to hide. There's no trails or faeces that I can see.
I never saw one rat in ten years here until this week. 
I'm never going to poison them, but if I get a cage trap, and there's tons of them, I could be trapping and releasing forever while they breed. I'm not sure what the answer is, and I don't want to stop feeding the birds after so long, but I might have to.
Any suggestions please?
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Posts

  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    Stop feeding the birds.
  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    Borrow next doors Jack Russell.
  • Slow-wormSlow-worm Posts: 1,630
    How long for though, any idea?
  • Slow-wormSlow-worm Posts: 1,630
    fidgetbones said:
    Borrow next doors Jack Russell.
    I'd considered that. 🤣 I could train him while he's here, cos they can't seem to...
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    If you need to stop feeding the birds now is the best time ... there's lots of natural food out there ... or if you feel you want to feed something to help with nestlings/fledglings you could just feed a few live mealworms (you can get them online or from petshops).  

    Hopefully if you stop feeding the birds now, by the time  the winter weather arrives and they are in more need of additional food, the rats will either have been dealt with or will have moved on 🤞

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Slow-wormSlow-worm Posts: 1,630
    Oh gawd, the birds all bring their babies in to feed them - which is OK for the blackbirds and starlings cos they just rock up on the patio where the sultana feeder is (me!) And we have a disabled pigeon. The guilt will be unbearable! 😭
  • Slow-wormSlow-worm Posts: 1,630
    Are they likely to disappear when they resume building next door?
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    Afriend had a family of Rats living in her shed. She had bird food in a large plastic pot with a lid and they got into that. What was interesting they had a way into the shed and a separate way out.
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • Slow-wormSlow-worm Posts: 1,630
    Yes I've kept seed in the lean-to until this week, and there's no sign of ratty interest, so I'm hoping that means they've not been rooting around much.
    We kept bags of horse feed in plastic bins, they didn't get in them despite the farms having tons of unavoidable rats.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    edited June 2022
    I've been trialling this style of bird feeder this spring and find that it really does work. No food dropping, bigger birds really can't get in or sit on it. A determined rat or squirrel) could get over the arch it's on and climb down, but it was really the dropping of bits that I was trying to avoid. I'm very pleased. I don't have rats or squirrels.


    If you are worried about where rats are coming from or going - rat runs, consider trail cams so you can track their movements.
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